It is thought that the therapeutic efficacy of Morus alba L. is determined by its biological compounds. We investigated the chemical differences in the medicinal parts of M. alba by analyzing a total of 57 samples (15 root barks, 11 twigs, 12 fruits, and 19 leaves). Twelve marker compounds, including seven flavonoids, two stilbenoids, two phenolic acids, and a coumarin, were quantitatively analyzed using a high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector and chemometric analyses (principal component and heatmap analysis). The results demonstrated that the levels and compositions of the marker compounds varied in each medicinal part. The leaves contained higher levels of six compounds, the root barks contained higher levels of four compounds, and the twigs contained higher levels of two compounds. The results of chemometric analysis showed clustering of the samples according to the medicinal part, with the marker compounds strongly associated with each part: mulberroside A, taxifolin, kuwanon G, and morusin for the root barks; 4-hydroxycinnamic acid and oxyresveratrol for the twigs and skimmin; chlorogenic acid, rutin, isoquercitrin, astragalin, and quercitrin for the leaves. Our approach plays a fundamental role in the quality evaluation and further understanding of biological actions of herbal medicines derived from various medicinal plant parts.
Keywords: Morus alba L.; chemical compounds; chemometric analysis; medicinal parts; quantitative analysis.